The present invention relates to an anchoring assembly for a control cable, and more paticularly to an anchoring assembly capable of automatically adjusting an anchoring position for a push-pull control cable which is used for transmission of a push-pull operational force to an operated device.
In case of using a control cable comprising an inner cable and a conduit as a means to transmit an operational force to an operated device, when the inner cable is connected to connecting points of an operated device an end of the conduit must be anchored at correct position determined in accordance with the specified effective length of the inner cable. However in general, the actual lengths thereof usually contain some errors because it is difficult to produce an inner cable and a conduit having specified accurated lengths. Therefore, when a control cable is connected to an operated device, an adjustment of the anchoring position of the conduit relative to the end of the inner cable is always required so that the end of the inner cable and the end of the conduit can be accurately positioned on the basis of the actual lengths thereof.
As an anchoring assembly capable of adjusting an anchoring position of a control cable, an anchoring assembly is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,450. FIG. 10 shows the above conventional assembly.
In the above anchoring assembly 50, as shown in FIG. 10, an adjusting member 52 is attached to an end of a conduit 51 of a control cable, and a rack portion 53 having teeth is formed on the longitudinally extending bottom surface of the adjustment member 52. An inner cable 54 of a control cable is passed through the inside of the adjustment member 52 and extended toward the left side in FIG. 10, so that it can be connected to an operated device (not shown). The adjustment member 52 is disposed inside of a fitting member 55. The fitting member 55 can be fixed to a bracket 57 by virtue of a snap portion 56 formed at the front end thereof. A guideway 58 is formed in the fitting member 55 so that a locking member 59 is disposed therein. The locking member 59 is provided with an aperture 61 through which the adjustment member 52 can pass, and teeth 62 capable of engaging with the rack portion 53 are provided on the inside surface of the lower half of the aperture 61. The numeral 63 indicates a spring to urge the teeth 62 of the locking member 59 against the adjustment member 52.
In the anchoring assembly 50, first the inner cable 54 is connected to an input end of the operated device with the locking member 59 being pressed to allow the axial movement of the fitting member 55 relative to the adjustment member 52, second the fitting member 55 is fixed to the bracket 57 and finally the adjustment of the anchoring position for a conduit is completed by releasing the locking member 59. The fitting member 55 can be moved relatively to the adjustment member 55 by pressing the locking member 59. After the adjustment of the anchoring position of the conduit is completed, the locking member 59 is released so that the teeth 62 of the locking member 59 is engaged with the rack portion 53 of the adjustment member 52 with the assistance of the spring 63, therefore the conduit can be anchored at the correct position.
In the above mentioned conventional assembly, when the connection of an inner cable and the anchoring of a conduit are performed, the locking member 59 must be depressed at the same time the whole assembly is axially pushed. Moreover, the adjustment is performed only in a step-wise manner determined by the dimension of the engaging teeth. Therefore, an anchoring work is troublesome and an efficiency of an assembly line is markedly decreased especially when the anchoring work is performed in a narrow space.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an anchoring assembly which enables to adjust the anchoring position of a conduit in a step-less manner only by pushing the anchoring assembly in the axial direction.